Officer was coming to aid of woman when hit by bat

A man has been charged with attempted first degree murder after hitting a Chicago police officer in the head with a baseball bat.

A man has been charged with attempted first degree murder after hitting a Chicago police officer in the head with a baseball bat.

By Rosemary Regina Sobol and Steve SchmadekeTribune reporters

A Chicago police officer was coming to the aid of a woman being beaten with a baseball bat when the attacker turned on the officer and struck him twice in the head, prosecutors said today as the suspect was ordered held without bail on attempted murder charges.

The officer, alone in his squad car, had stopped in front of a home in the 5700 block of South Winchester Avenue in the West Englewood neighborhood after noticing a large group of people arguing and fighting shortly after midnight Saturday, prosecutors said in court.

After radioing for back-up, the officer ordered the crowd to break up and then saw Tythia Thigpen, 29, beating a woman with a metal bat, prosecutors said. Thigpen turned and yelled an obscenity before hitting the officer in the head, a witness told police.

Responding officers found the injured officer lying face down on the street, "struggling to stay conscious," according to court documents. The officer suffered a seizure and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was treated for blunt trauma, bleeding to the brain and bruised ribs.

Witnesses told police the name of the attacker and Thigpen surrendered at the Area South police station in the Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side Monday evening, police said.

The officer is an Englewood District beat officer who joined the department in 2009, sources said.

Thigpen has an arrest record that includes murder charges in 2004, according to court documents. He was found not guilty and released in 2006. In 2009, he pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine.